Any references to methods, apparatus or documents of the prior art are not to be taken as constituting any evidence or admission that they formed, or form part of the common general knowledge.
General purpose power outlets for mounting into a bench, such as a kitchen bench are known in the prior art. For example, FIGS. 1 to 3 illustrate a known concealable power outlet assembly (COPA) 1. The COPA 1 consists of a plurality of power outlet sockets 3a, 3b, 3c, which are mounted on a frame 4 that is comprised of two vertical rails, 5a, 5b, fastened together by a header 7 and a jamb 9. The power outlet sockets 3a, 3b, 3c are provided with power by an electrical cable 8. A cover plate 11 is fastened to the header by a spring loaded catch stem 13. Pushing down on the cover plate 11 causes the stem to unlatch and telescope upwardly as indicated by arrow 2 so that the cover plate 11 pops up and may be grasped for purposes of lifting the frame 4.
A sleeve 17 is provided that has an upper circumferential flange 19. The sleeve has a thread around its outside which threadedly receives a nut 21. With reference to FIG. 2, in order to install the COPA 1 a hole 10 is drilled through the bench top 23 which the sleeve 17 is then inserted through as shown so that the underside of the flange 19 rests on the top of the bench surrounding the hole. The frame 4 is then inserted through the sleeve 17 so that the outlying underside of the cover plate 11 rests on the flange 19 surrounding the hole 10. The nut 21 is then tightened to cause the sleeve 17 to compress a little around the frame 4 so that the frame can be pulled up by the cover plate 11 and will remain in place once pulled up by virtue of friction between the vertical rails 5a, 5b of the frame and the inside surface of the sleeve 17. FIG. 3 shows the frame once it has been pulled up by the cover plate 11 to thereby make GPOs 3a, 3b, 3c accessible above the bench 23 for use. When the time comes to conceal the frame 4 it is pushed back down again by applying downward force on the cover plate 11 sufficient to overcome the static friction between the sleeve and the rails 5a, 5b. 
It is an object of the present invention to provide a concealable power outlet assembly for mounting on a benchtop which is an improvement to the previously described concealable power outlet assembly of the prior art and which is convenient for a user to operate.